L&T Finance launches ‘Spoorthi’ to empower women entrepreneurs

New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) NBFC firm L&T Finance Ltd (LTF) on Thursday announced the launch of Spoorthi, a specialised program designed to empower women entrepreneurs by facilitating finance for the purchase of house property or providing Loan Against Property (LAP) for business expansion and working capital.

This initiative recognises the critical role women play in the economy and aims to support those who are solely or jointly running a business or profession, L&T Finance said in a statement.

Under the Spoorthi program, the company offers a range of specific relaxations and benefits, including extended loan tenors of up to 25 years for Home Loans and LAP for specific profiles, it said.

Furthermore, industrial LAP tenors are offered for up to 12 years, and the program introduces enhanced eligibility norms such as higher debt-to-income ratios to provide greater financial flexibility, it added.

****** South Indian Bank and smallcase partner to expand secured credit access *South Indian Bank on Thursday announced the launch of its digitally integrated Loan Against Mutual Funds (LAMF) offering, enabled by smallcase’s technology infrastructure.

The partnership allows the bank to extend secured credit against mutual funds at an interest rate of 9.99 per cent per annum, in compliance with regulatory guidelines, to both its existing customer base as well as the customers of digital wealth platforms through its lending service provider (LSP) network, South Indian Bank said in a statement.

Using smallcase’s secured credit stack, SIB has built a native, API-led integration that enables an end-to-end digital journey for the user that includes pledging, disbursal and release of mutual fund units, it said.

With this launch, SIB becomes among the first banks to offer a fully integrated LAMF solution to its LSP partners, enabling digital ecosystems and fintech apps to embed secured credit seamlessly within their offerings, it added.

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******Ionic Wealth AUM crosses Rs 9,000 cr *AI-Powered Ionic Wealth, a wealth-tech platform, on Thursday said its assets under management (AUM) have crossed USD 1 billion or Rs 9,000 crore (as per exchange rate on February 27) in 22 months of operations.

The company recorded an average quarterly AUM growth of about 30 per cent during 9M FY26, reflecting the strong resonance of the approach among India’s growing affluent and HNI investors, Ionic Wealth said in a statement.

"We have been steadily leveraging technology, including Artificial Intelligence, to automate needs such as 24x7 portfolio access, portfolio insights among other features, leaving human-centric advice to experts," Ionic Wealth Co-founder Shobhit Mathur said. PTI DP DP MR